


Radishes And Sunshine

by katajainen



Series: February Ficlet Challenge 2018 [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Blibbering Humdingers (mentioned), Gen, Insomnia, Luna being Luna, Malfoy Manor, No beta - provided as is, Some angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-13 01:10:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13559490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katajainen/pseuds/katajainen
Summary: With Voldemort and company for houseguests, Draco has hard time sleeping. He thinks he's hiding it well, but he hadn't considered Blibbering Humdingers.





	Radishes And Sunshine

**Author's Note:**

> Written for February Ficlet Challenge 2018, Day 2, prompt: 'character B can't sleep'.

‘You do not sleep, do you?’

Draco might have ridiculed her words, or imperiously ignored the whole remark. What he did was say absolutely nothing. He only noticed his hands were shaking when the teapot began to clink against the cups on the tray, the sound loud in the gloomy silence beneath the Manor. In the corner, farthest away from the draft coming from the door, Ollivander coughed. Draco quickly pushed the tray into Luna’s hands. ‘Be quick about it. I have to be back upstairs.’ There really wasn’t much to it: the tea, some bread, and whatever else he had managed to sneak from the kitchens.

‘Blibbering Humdingers are attracted to insomniacs, you know,’ she went on, speaking through a mouthful of bread, just as Draco had thought it safe to lift his hand to his face, the glamour tingling beneath his fingertips, still intact, still disguising his bloodshot eyes and the dark blue stains beneath them. He tried to force a glare on Luna, but she only watched him back with an equal focus, her eyes narrowing in a too-pale face, her ripening bruises a mirror to his own weakness, and an even more stark reminder to not to let it show.

‘There was one with you when you came in,’ she pointed out casually. ‘I could not have told otherwise. But you’ll want something to discourage it– wait a moment.’ She fiddled with the clasp of her earring, then held the little red-and-white radish in the cup of her hands, whispering.

Draco could have sworn he saw a faint purple glow of wandless magic briefly light up Luna’s hands and face. She looked up to him with a serious expression. ‘Unfortunately that’s the only charm I can do like this. But it’s a handy one.’

Before Draco could react, she reached over and slipped the earring into his breast pocket. ‘There.’ She patted firmly over the cloth, and from out of nowhere there was a faint scent of lavender and sunshine. ‘That should do it. Humdingers are mostly harmless, but if they take to your hair–’ she made a face– ‘they’ll make you itch dreadfully, and you can’t sleep even the little bit.’

‘But–’ Draco realized he didn’t know what he was objecting to. As far as he knew, Luna could have put a wandless curse into the earring as easily as a charm, but to his own surprise, he didn’t believe she had. He trusted her that much, just as she trusted him not to poison the bread and tea he brought her. She was just being  _ Luna,  _ and that was strangely comforting.

‘I’ll be fine,’ she said, touching the tips of her fingers at the remaining brightly-coloured vegetable hanging from her right ear. ‘They absolutely  _ loathe  _ radishes, even fake ones.’

‘I see. Thank you for the charm.’ Draco said solemnly, and taking the empty tea tray with him, walked slowly back up the stairs, taking the essence of lavender and sunlight with him.


End file.
